Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup

Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup is a vast rural riding stretching along the south shore of the St. Lawrence River in eastern Quebec, running roughly 170 kilometres from Berthier-sur-Mer east to L'Île-Verte. The riding extends inland from the river to the U.S. border, encompassing the regional county municipalities of Montmagny, L'Islet, Kamouraska, and Rivière-du-Loup.

Candidates

François Lapointe (NDP) — Born in Montreal in 1971, Lapointe studied at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal and Cégep de Maisonneuve before working on film and theatre projects in London, England for two years. He had run for the NDP in this riding in the November 2009 by-election, finishing fourth. He returned to contest the seat in 2011.

Bernard Généreux (Conservative) — The incumbent MP, Généreux had won the riding in a November 2009 by-election. An entrepreneur from La Pocatière, he had served as mayor of that town beginning in 2005 before entering federal politics. His background was in business and municipal governance in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region.

Nathalie Arsenault (Bloc Québécois) — The Bloc candidate in the riding. During the campaign, Arsenault emphasized the importance of the Bombardier plant in La Pocatière, support for the tourism sector, and protections for seasonal workers reliant on employment insurance.

Andrew Caddell (Liberal) — The Liberal Party candidate in the riding.

Lynette Tremblay (Green Party) — The Green Party candidate in the riding.

About the Riding

The riding's geography is defined by a narrow, fertile strip of farmland along the St. Lawrence shore, backed by a sharp escarpment rising to a less arable plateau inland. Agriculture, food production, and agri-tourism are central to the local economy. The Kamouraska RCM alone produces roughly 45 percent of all sphagnum peat moss in Quebec, making it a nationally significant peat-harvesting region. Rivière-du-Loup, the largest town in the riding with a population of approximately 19,000, serves as a regional service centre for the Bas-Saint-Laurent. La Pocatière, in the L'Islet RCM, is home to a major rail-car manufacturing facility originally built in 1961 to produce Moto-Ski snowmobiles. Bombardier acquired the plant in 1971 and converted it to rail-car production, making it one of the company's key transit manufacturing sites. The facility later became part of Alstom and employed several hundred workers as the largest private employer in the area. The town also hosts the Institut de technologie agroalimentaire and the Cégep de La Pocatière. Montmagny, known as the "goose capital" for the large flocks of snow geese that stop along the river during migrations, is a centre for small manufacturing and tourism. The riding is overwhelmingly francophone, with one of the highest rates of Catholic identification in Canada. A declining and aging population has been a persistent concern, as younger residents have tended to migrate toward Quebec City or Montreal for employment. Seasonal employment in agriculture, forestry, and tourism makes employment insurance policy a perennial issue of federal concern in the region.